inspiration

PBS Everyday Edisons Season 2: I’m on TV!

Posted by _tango! on June 19, 2008
Posted in: art, brand, design, entertainment, experience, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, me, style, tech, wacky. 26 comments
Everyday Edisons pbs show TV aaron tang

Hey all! I’ve got a little secret to spill that I’ve been keeping hush for almost a year! I’m in a TV show and it premieres on PBS today!!!!

The shows called “Everyday Edisons“:
“Everybody has a great idea that could change the way we work, the way we live or the way we play. Everyday Edisons documents the development process of 14 inventions and the parallel stories of the people who invented them. Selected from thousands, the 14 Everyday Edisons learn how their extraordinary ideas are taken from a sketch on a napkin to a store shelf.”

Check out the EverydayEdisons.com page or the PBS page. Find out your local PBS air dates and times here. (I’m in the 2nd half of the season but will appear at the beginning I think)

It’s a thrill to be one of the dozen inventors hand picked from thousands to be on the show. This adventure continues a project I invented while at RISD back in 1999 which made the blogsphere rounds in 2004-5.

I’m not sure what to expect nor how the show ends (good or bad) but that’s all part of the fun. It might not be as entertaining as reality TV, but you’ll get to see my goofy serious self!! And no, it’s not like the “other” reality show I’ve been on… this one is much more professional. There is no competition, the US patent office sponsors the show, and they actually spend over a year developing each inventors idea!

I’ll post a few articles that have been published about the show and myself after the jump (fun pictures)! Please watch and let me know how it goes, cause I don’t receive the channels it’s being broadcast on (booo).

update: episodes posted after jump
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400,000 Balls Dropped into Ivanhoe Resevoir

Posted by _tango! on June 11, 2008
Posted in: art, entertainment, fun, information, inspiration, materials, style, tech, wacky. 7 comments

LA Silver Lake Ivanhoe lake black balls
Sweet goodness, this rocks! Tossing 400,000 plastic black Caviar like balls into a reservoir with 3 million to follow in an attempt to shade off the reservoirs exposed water from sunlight for the next 4-5 years.

“The water needs to be shaded because when sunlight mixes with the bromide and chlorine in Ivanhoe’s water, the carcinogen bromate forms, said Pankaj Parekh, DWP’s director for water quality compliance. Bromide is naturally present in groundwater and chlorine is used to kill bacteria, he said, but sunlight is the final ingredient in the potentially harmful mix.”

Reminds me of the beautiful Sony Bravia Bouncing balls commercial. I want to by a pool of spheres now!

Tons of fun pics after the jump.
Source via LA TIMES with video, Curbed, and CBS and video.

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Weekend Links

Posted by _tango! on June 8, 2008
Posted in: brand, design, entertainment, experience, fun, ideas, inspiration, style, tech, wacky, weekendlinks. Leave a Comment
Dreaming of Flying

Here are some semi super hero links…. I saw Iron Man finally which was awesome. Later on Indiana Jones, Incredible Hulk, Batman, Hancock, Kung Fu Panda, Get Smart, Love Guru, Hellboy II, and filming for Transformers 2 just started! What a Super Hero summer this is going to be!

– Japaneses Talking watch!($20)
– Finger Blasters or Finger Missiles! (Makes anyone a kid again)
– Explore the Universe through World Telescope!
– Skin Footwear!
– Crazy Fun Slip n Slide!(video)
– A poorly designed Batman squirt gun… haha

Jan Vormann: Dispatchwork

Posted by _tango! on June 7, 2008
Posted in: art, fun, inspiration, materials, style. 5 comments
Jan Vormann dispatchwork

“As part of Bocchignano, Italy’s group project “20 Eventi,” Jan Vormann went around town and filled in all the cracks in the walls with painstakingly clicked-together patches made from Lego’s.”

Very cool! Gives off the vibe that entire city buildings are fabricated from Lego’s and their rustic outer layers of mud bricks are breaking off exposing the fun beneath! The hidden Lego lands discovered 😉 . I heart this!

Lots of pics after the jump>

via BoingBoing
Jan Vormanns site.

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Nick Demarco: Reuse, Garbage Chair

Posted by _tango! on May 29, 2008
Posted in: art, design, green, ideas, information, inspiration, materials, style, wacky. 1 comment
Nick Demarco XS garbage chair

Call it what you want, but I think this is a great idea by student Nick Demarco! Buy this plastic bag/mesh shaped chair, stuff it with dry items you’d be throwing away anyways or what you have too much of, and you have a comfy chair. Take those old shirts, magazines, bottles, stuffed bears, newspapers, etc.

This is a great “Reuse” project. I’ve got a huge pile of old shirts and magazines that would work great for making a snazzy couch! Reminds me a bit of the very expensive yet cool Campana teddy chairs!

via treehugger!
video interview

Tast.es: Disposable Elements for Catering

Posted by _tango! on May 28, 2008
Posted in: art, design, food, inspiration, materials, style. Leave a Comment

Tast.es: Disposable Elements For Catering
Wow! I love it when the ordinary becomes extraordinary. In this instance Tast.es creates “Disposable elements for catering”! I’m not sure the cost on these jewels but every time I pass by cheap ugly paper/plastic plates in the grocery store, I’m going to venture my eyes around for a set of these, especially the sweet soup cups! Plastic at it’s best! Damn this is hot!

More images after the jump mirrored via NotCot

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Erik Nordenankar: Biggest Drawing in the World

Posted by _tango! on May 27, 2008
Posted in: art, entertainment, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, tech, wacky. 1 comment
Erik Nordenankar biggest drawing in the world dhl

Artist Erik Nordenankar has created the “Biggest Drawing in the World” according to his webpage.

In short, he had a grand vision to draw a huge self-portrait. He sent away a briefcase containing a GPS device around the world through DHL which plotted it’s journey in 55 days. The end result, a pretty sweet self-portrait. The GPS container became his pen and the world became his canvas.

However true or fictional this may be, it’s a pretty cool idea. He has a good documentation of it online, and a youtube videos here.

via hackaday

GEL, Art Center, Pangea Day!

Posted by _tango! on May 4, 2008
Posted in: design, entertainment, experience, fun, information, inspiration, me, thoughts. 3 comments

pangea day sony studio LA

It’s been an incredibly busy week of travel and work and I apologize for not posting as much.

First came the wonderful GEL (Good Experience Live) conference in nyc, which made me ask “why” every time I experienced something bad in this world, rather than just letting it happen. Why do voice mail avatars talk for sooo long before I can leave a message, why do the same avatars talk for so long when I want to hear my voice mails, Why does technology direct 2 people calling each other at the same time to each others voice mail rather than connecting them, why is the nyc train system so confusing for a newbie… this world is full of bad experiences, and as a designer, discovering, revealing, and disrupting the norm is needed…especially when it comes to sustainability and health care experiences. I’ll post about GEL later on, but here is a great recap collection.

Anyhow, this week I venture off to the “Art Center: Serious Play” Conference in LA. It’ll touch base on user experience, design, and bits of everything. I’ll bring my laptop, but no promises on live blogging.

After that, I’ll be experiencing the incredible Pangea Day on May 10th at the Sony Pictures Studio in LA. If you didn’t catch my last post, this is MUST do…invite a bunch of friends, family, or even strangers over…gather around, watch this global event for 4+ hours, get inspired, and make change! There will be 24 films, live music, and several fantastic speakers very much like TED.

I’ll be twittering most of my journey on the sidebar..feel free to follow me on twitter, or just on this blog… I’ll post when I can, but for now, a few late weekend links below:

Use Whatever Clock: Pretty cool, sell the function, let customer create looks.
Wearable Chair: I had this idea sometime ago, but executed a bit differently.
Twistori: Following Twitter by emotions.
Scrapile: Using wasted wood to make cool wood composites! Very sustainable!
Sunlight Poem Projector: Public Poem based on sun location. Pretty neat!
Soba Machine: Make you own soba at home. I’m in soba mode after going to Soba Koh nyc.
A billion Pennies: What does 1 billion pennies stack up to be.
Momofuku Ko restaurant: reservations only online! Brings the experience beyond the restaurant.

Pangea Day: May 10

Posted by _tango! on April 29, 2008
Posted in: brand, entertainment, experience, information, inspiration, me, tech, thoughts. 1 comment

Filmmaker and 2006 TED prize winner Jehane Noujaim made a wish to “Create a day in which the world came together through film.”

That exciting day is this May 10th, gathering a global audience to watch a series of films made by the world for the world, which will broadcast around the globe live at the same time.

Gather a community of your family and friends and watch this amazing inspirational film together. Host an event in your home, backyard, office, or any other location to share this extremely rare experience with all.

Watch Jehane’s wish during TED here, host an event, check out the Pangea Day webpage, or watch a few more videos on their Youtube site.

I’ll be in LA during this event… this is a must do, watch, spread event.